2,840 millionaires got jobless benefits in '08

Published
4:00 am PDT, Sunday, October 3, 2010

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2,840 millionaires got jobless benefits in '08

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Number of the day

2,840

That's the number of U.S. millionaires who received unemployment benefits in 2008, the most recent year with IRS data available. The households reported at least $1 million in income on their tax returns while also collecting a total of $18.6 million in jobless aid. Still, the figures are a minuscule fraction of the 9.5 million taxpayers who reported receiving $43.7 billion in out-of-work benefits that year. Because unemployment benefits are insurance, funded with taxes paid by employers, the program isn't need-based like welfare.

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Heads up

Socially conscious investors are headed to San Francisco's Fort Mason Center this week for SoCap10. The three-day event, which gets under way Monday, includes speeches by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and nonprofit social investment funds like Root Capital. The conference will discuss ways that investing can improve the environment and bring technology to developing countries.